Blogs

Our blogs provide fresh, impassioned and authoritative commentary and insight about the variety of civil-liberties issues that the ACLU of Michigan takes up each day in our courts, governments and communities.

Get Involved

With the help of dedicated volunteers and community activists, the ACLU of Michigan works to raise awareness about the importance of preserving the individual rights and liberties that are guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.

Get Help

The ACLU of Michigan is one of more than 50 affiliates in the United States. As such, we encourage you to know as much as possible about your civil liberties. Further, if you feel those liberties have been violated, we suggest you submit a complaint. We only accept complaints that occur within the State of Michigan. If your complaint arose in a state other than Michigan, you must contact the ACLU office in that state.

About Us

Since our founding in 1920, the American Civil Liberties Union has led the fight to conserve our most precious liberties. Through the passion of our supporters, we have grown from a roomful of civil liberties activists to an organization of more than 500,000 active members and supporters with 54 state affiliate offices as well as a legislative office in Washington, DC.

Racial Justice

ACLU Commends Grand Rapids Police Decision to End Trespass Policy That Led to Disproportionate Arrest of African-Americans

2017-06-29 00:00:00

The ACLU is hailing a recent decision by the Grand Rapids Police Department to end a policy that permitted police officers to arrest innocent people for trespassing at local businesses during operating hours—even when business owners didn’t ask them to leave.

Chained No More, Told Too Late: The Story of Juneteenth

2017-06-19 00:00:00

Regardless of your ethnicity, you have ancestors who were living somewhere in the world on the historic day of June 19, 1865. For the black residents of Galveston, Texas, however, the day was like no other. On that day, a Union general arrived to Galveston, making the belated announcement that slavery had ended in the former Confederate states, including Texas—two and a half years prior.

Billboards In Arabic, English, and Spanish Intended to Remind the Public That ‘We The People’ Means Everyone

2017-06-05 00:00:00

In an effort to remind the public about its First Amendment rights and to reassure immigrants that constitutional protections extend to them as well, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan on Monday launched a public-education campaign that features the First Amendment printed in Arabic, Spanish and English.

The “We the People” campaign rolled out with the unveiling of an electronic billboard featuring the First Amendment in all three languages posted on Cobo Center in downtown Detroit. The ad will appear on the billboard throughout June.

Supporting Black Labor: Ending Criminal Record Exclusions in the Workforce

2017-01-19 00:00:00

As we honor Martin Luther King, Jr and his legacy this week, it’s important to examine the intersection of two issues that he devoted energy and attention to: race relations and economic equality. Though his fight for economic equality of the United States’ black citizens occurred decades ago, countless examples let us know the disparities still persist. One such example is in Michigan.

Mass Mobilization and Tools of Change

2017-01-20 00:00:00

Because enslaved Africans were known to attack their masters, burn plantation crops, destroy farm equipment and organize insurrections, laws governing their conduct called “slave codes” placed severe limits on when they were allowed to congregate. The very idea of Africans meeting in groups of three or more for purposes other than religious worship terrified the slave-owning class.

Fight to End Harmful Tax Practices in Detroit Underscores the Need to Continue to Challenge Institutional Racism

2017-01-16 00:00:00

By Kimberly Buddin-Crawford

Hundreds of African-American homeowners in Detroit will lose their properties this fall, joining the thousands before them who are part of one of the largest tax foreclosure crises since the Great Depression. For many, the narrative is similar: residents are given tax bills that do not reflect the value of their homes and which they are unable to pay. Left with few options, the residents often wind up having their homes taken in foreclosure.

Time For A More Intersectional Trans Allyship

2016-12-09 00:00:00

The results of last month’s election sent shockwaves through many communities, not the least of which were transgender communities. For many trans and gender non-conforming people (TGNC) – already at heightened risk from increasingly dangerous policy proposals– the feeling turned from intense anxiety to one of palpable fear.

A look back: Takeaways from ACLU of Michigan Law Enforcement Hearing

2016-12-09 00:00:00

A little more than a year ago, the ACLU of Michigan’s Racial Justice Project convened an important hearing on law enforcement best practices. At the time, the public’s alarm about police violence was at fever pitch, and to the extent the need for clarity about how to address this problem was not already apparent, the popular demand for answers drove the point home.

Fancher: Law Enforcement Must Move Past Conversations To Action

2016-10-27 00:00:00

As the black body count continues to mount, there are incessant calls for a “conversation” about how to improve police/community relations. As a consequence, well-meaning representatives of the community and law-enforcement executives are convening in meeting rooms around the country.